Theatre | New Season at The Other Room

It’s a new year and a new season at The Other Room. Following what was an incredible year for Cardiff’s newest theatre – ending with the remarkable and chaotic Alix in Wundergarten – The Other Room seems to be leaping straight into 2016 with a season appropriately named for the darkest of winter months: Insomnia.

Showing that size of theatre is clearly no barrier to the challenge taken on, The Other Room is starting with two of the giants of 20th Century playwriting – Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter. Kicking off on 19th January Play (Beckett) and Silence (Pinter) will be seen together for the first time. Iconic in its staging, Play puts the three actors (Matthew Bulgo, Victoria John and Peta Cornish) in giant urns as they recount the glory, pain and folly of their former affair, doomed to replay their experience over and over. Directed by The Other Room’s Artistic Director Kate Wasserberg it brings black comedy and lost souls to the stage, connecting well to Pinter’s Silence, directed by Titas Halder (formerly of Donmar Warehouse, Tricycle Theatre and the Finborough Theatre). In this, we meet another trio of lovers (played by Matthew Bulgo, Peta Cornish and Neal McWilliams), again a little lost against the backdrop of a rural hinterland.

Following the classics, Sand, a new play by nick gill, also directed by Kate Wasserberg, and running from 16 – 27 February. Taking one woman (Victoria John) who collaborates on making a nuclear bomb, she becomes all things – every victim, every person in every possible time, even the explosion itself. Asking questions as time and space fall away, it is sure to be an engaging and thought-provoking piece.

Continuing a diverse programme of writers, and demonstrating that The Other Room is a theatre that values writers and writing, Irish playwright Conor McPherson is next in the season with St Nicholas. Which is again directed by Titas Halder (who directed the acclaimed Donmar Warehouse production of McPherson’s adaptation of The Dance of Death), and tells an extraordinary tale of booze, parties, and blood. Putting a theatre critic at centre stage in this one man show is sure to hit more than a little close to home on press night. Christian Patterson takes on the role, which takes him (and the audience) into a world of candle-lit hedonism, darkness, and vampires.

Finally, Insomnia concludes with a much anticipated new work from Cardiff-based playwright Matthew Bulgo. Constellation Street (11 – 30 April), follows four lost souls under Cardiff skies (played by Christian Patterson, Anita Reynolds, Neal McWilliams and Gwenllian Higginson) as they go looking for answers. This final piece of the season will be directed by The Other Room’s former trainee directors Chelsey Gillard and Dan Jones.

The next few months from The Other Room promises to be a varied and rich season. With classic plays alongside new work the team continue to challenge themselves and audiences. There will be a variety of talk back events as well as a BSL interpreted performance for each of the productions and the continuation of ‘Pay what you can previews’. The Insomnia sesaon at The Other Room runs from 19th January-30th April.